A Question for the Snowbirds

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utmtman

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Dec 27, 2006
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Have you ever gone to or called an rv park to get reservations  or to stay there and they had no spaces available?

Did that irritate you?

Were you bothered by it?


  The reason for the question was from trying to find a park to winter in last year and a lot of them were full.  And it was irritating and kinda upset me that one cannot find places to stay. 
  Now the biggest reason for this is the people that have bought the park models or an rv that they permanently leave and are coming down every winter to stay in the parks thus taking up all that extra space.  Why not just buy a house or a condo so others can also rv and enjoy the snowbirding experience?   
  Park models and Permanent location RV is not fulltiming nor is it really rving in my book.  Is like buying a million dollar rv to take primitive camping.  Thats not camping in my book.
  Im sorry if I have stepped on some toes here but I have also seen others in the forums complaining about people staying in rv parks in park models that make the rv park look like a ghetto or complain cuz the best sites are always taken by the permanents.
  I would like to hear others outtake on this and again I apologize now to anyone who may feel offended.
 
The parks like those tenants, as they get income year around from the sites.  The tenants like it because it's cheaper than renting by the month, week, or day.  It's the parks offering what the people want.  There are plenty of campgrounds in the wintering areas that cater to the traveling RVer.  We have never had a problem finding a site for a week or a month, or more, in the winter.

Up north, in WI for example, most of the campsites are also taken by seasonal campers that park their trailer and never move it, so the same situation applies in the summer up there as it does in the winter down south.  RVs are a weekend or vacation cottage up there.

It's not wrong, it's just another way of life.  Those people probably say similar things about us :)
 
utmtman said:
Have you ever gone to or called an rv park to get reservations  or to stay there and they had no spaces available?

Did that irritate you?

Were you bothered by it?


  The reason for the question was from trying to find a park to winter in last year and a lot of them were full.  And it was irritating and kinda upset me that one cannot find places to stay. 

Many nice parks are booked over a year in advance.  If you try to book at the last minute, you might not get a space where you want it.

And, yes, I have had to change plans on occasion because I waited too long to get a reservation.  I try to plan ahead but last month I tried to get a spot near Bryce for a weekend in July and I missed out.  I should have tried to book sooner. :mad:

Phil
 
  This past November I started calling arizona campgrounds, we had just sold our house and wanted to head south to snowbird.  We could not find a one that was available.  We were thinking on going to try texas but ended up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and could only find one park there that had a space and the one we got was way back in the back in the mud and rocks.  I figured it was mainly cuz of snow birds until I heard other talking about the park models they bought and put in the rv parks.  Also I know others that bought 5th wheels and put in parks year round.  I have heard rumors of a lot of parks only having 10 to 15 spaces available and those are usually reserved a year in advance. 
I am going to try and reserve a place for Bouse this winter.  I talk to one park that told me to call in aug or sep and they would be taking reservations for winter at that time.
 
I live year round in my fifth wheel because its cheaper than an apt, and it
gives me a bit of a yard for the dogs. There are lots of park models here
also, but lots of spaces where people snowbird with their rv. Those people
pay a yearly rate to rent their space. If you find a park that looks ghetto,
thats because its in the ghetto side of town, and those parks usually rent
to anybody with no regulations on age of coach or tt. Thats the norm for
Phoenix metro. When I got my space it was the only available space in this
park that wasn't rented, not the only empty space, just the only available.
Now, I could have also bought a park model that was availble, (lots of those)
but again, the fifth wheel was cheaper, 10,000 vs 50,000 and a big difference
in the amount of years to finance. Mine will be paid for by the time I retire
and have to rely on retirement income. Those are only some of the reasons
I choose to use my fifth wheel as my main domicile and it seems to be paying
off as times get tougher.
 
I live year around in a TT and love it.  I am alone with my 6 lb yorkie and we get along just fine. 

I have a friend that pays for a space in AZ year around and only uses it November and January through March.  Because he can afford to do that are you saying he should not as you want a space when you go down there.  I don't understand.  Why do you feel that us full-timers don't have a right to these spaces.

IF there was more of a need for added RV spaces then the free market system would provide for them.  But it is the people that pay for a year around space that make some of the parks profitable. 
 
This is a way of life that is going to get larger every year. One is not going find too many stupid people that won't jump at the chance to live in fulll  time in a park , paying no property tax,low insurance rates and monthly expenses much lower then home ownership.Larger rig owners are now feeling the turn aways that tenters and pop uppers used to  feel when parks catered to us bigguns!
 
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